Real stories from the dark side of captivity
Since we launched our campaign, we've been talking a lot about what a dark place captivity is for whales and dolphins. But no matter how many social media posts you 'like', or even how many scientific papers you read, nothing brings it home more than witnessing the impact captivity has had on the mental health of real whales and dolphins.
In last week's blog we shared a short video about Kiska, an orca filmed bashing herself against the side of her tank and hanging motionless in the corner of it. How can anyone watch that and advocate for captivity being a necessary or positive thing? Sadly, Kiska's story is just one of around 3,600 stories of whales and dolphins living impoverished lives, confined in a tank, and denied what it truly means to be a whale or a dolphin.

Help us make this generation of captive whales the last
You really don't have to look far to find examples that show the true horror of captivity. We must make this generation of captive whales and dolphins the last, and we need to tell their stories to uncover the dark side of captivity. Watching an orca show, or getting a selfie with a 'smiling' dolphin in a swim-with-the-dolphins experience might be a bucket list experience ticked off for some, but for the orca and the dolphin, it's much darker.
Use the arrows to scroll through and meet some of the real whales and dolphins in captivity:
Holiday companies fuel this whale and dolphin mental health crisis by promoting these ‘attractions’ to their customers. We’ve been campaigning successfully to persuade all UK tour operators to stop perpetuating the cruelty of captivity.
Our campaign is working. We have already succeeded in persuading Virgin Holidays, British Airways, Thomas Cook, TripAdvisor and Booking.com to stop selling tickets to captive whale and dolphin attractions and Expedia followed last year.
TUI is the largest travel company in the world and we know that they are reviewing their policies around captive whales and dolphins. They can play an important role in making this generation of captive whales and dolphins the last. Please encourage TUI to do the right thing and pledge only to work with attractions that commit to WDC’s ethical phase-out model of no performances, no breeding, no more captures, no trade and enhanced welfare conditions for those remaining in tanks.
Please share our campaign and help us to reach more people who'd like to sign our letter to TUI. Thank you for helping us uncover the #DarkSideOfCaptivity.
Please sign our letter to TUI
As the world's largest tour operator, TUI can help make this generation of captive whales and dolphins the last.